This study aims to analyze three popular U.S. children’s TV shows – Dora the Explorer (Nickelodeon), Maya & Miguel (PBS) and Handy Manny (Disney Channel) – in terms of their incorporation of Spanish. Qualitative and quantitative measures were used to assess the frequency and types of code switching both in the context of bilingualism and language pedagogy. The study revealed different strategies of language choice and socio-cultural objectives for each show. A close analysis of language choice in the three children’s TV programs revealed distinct approaches to TV writing in the name of raising awareness of ethnic diversity, developing cultural literacy, and brand marketing. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

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published_or_final_version / English / Master / Master of Philosophy

Reality TV is the most popular genre of television programming today. The number of reality television shows has grown exponentially over the last fifteen years since the premier of The Real World in 1992. Although reality TV uses styles similar to those used in documentary film, the “reality” of the shows is questioned by critics and viewers alike. The current study focuses on the “reality” that is presented to viewers and how that “reality” is created and may differ from what the participants of the shows experience. I appeared on two reality shows, Faking It and That's Clever, and learned a great deal as a participant observer. Within the study, I outline my experience and demonstrate how editing changed the reality I experienced into what was presented to the viewers. O'Connor's (1996) representation context web serves as a model for the realities created through reality television. People derive various benefits from watching reality TV. Besides the obvious entertainment value of reality TV, viewers also gather information via this type of programming. Viewers want to see real people on television reacting to unusual circumstances without the use of scripts. By surveying reality TV show viewers and participants, this study gives insight into how real the viewers believe the shows are and how authentic they actually are. If these shows are presented as reality, viewers are probably taking what they see as historical fact. The results of the study indicate more must be done so that the “reality” of reality TV does not misinform viewers.

Reality TV dating shows have increased in popularity during the last decade. The producers of this kind of reality TV tend to claim that their shows represent a true portrayal of social reality. Viewing the world from a social constructivist perspective, social reality and behavior are understood as social constructions. From that perspective the content of dating shows are viewed as constructions shaped by, for example, the producers. The purpose of this study is to examine how love ideals and gender roles are constructed within the Swedish dating shows Farmers wants a wife [Bonde söker fru] and Faith, hope and love [Tro, hopp och kärlek].Further this study aims to compare the constructions from each show. To investigate this, an adjusted version of Norman Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis has been used. There is not much previous sociological research done concerning reality TV in general, or dating TV more specifically. However, other disciplines have investigated these fields more. For example, several feminist studies have shown that dating TV shows enforces stereotypic gender roles, and a research study in psychology has shown that dating shows may affect attitudes toward sexual behavior among youths. The study shows that the constructions about love and gender roles are similar in both dating shows. In the shows constructed ideal of love, intimacy is one of the most important things. This love ideal could be understood in the context of Anthony Giddens theory of the pure relationship. The gender role constructions in the shows contain contradictions. In many aspects the constructed gender roles reflect upon the show’s love ideal, in sense of equality and the importance of mutual commitment to the dating process. But in some ways there are more traditional gender role expressions, for example women’s criticism towards passivity amongst men. / Tv-sända dejtingprogram har blivit en alltmer populär företeelse de senaste åren. Produktionerna bakom denna form av dokusåpor anser ofta att programmen speglar en sann social verklighet. Utifrån ett socialkonstruktivistiskt perspektiv förstås samhället och socialt beteende som sociala konstruktioner. Med ett sådant perspektiv ses skildringar i dejtingprogram som en konstruktion formad av bland annat produktionen. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur kärlek och könsroller konstrueras i de svenska upplagorna av dejtingprogrammen Bonde söker fru och Tro, hopp och kärlek. Vidare syftar studien till att göra en jämförelse av programmens konstruktioner rörande kärlek och könsroller. För att undersöka detta har studien utförts enligt en anpassning av Norman Faircloughs kritiska diskursanalys. En översikt av tidigare forskning visar att det inte finns mycket sociologisk forskning på området dokusåpor i allmänhet, och dejtingprogram mer specifikt. Angränsande discipliner har dock utforskat problemområdet mer. Bland annat har flera feministiska studier visat att stereotypa könroller förstärks i dejtingprogram och en studie i psykologi visade att ungdomars konsumtion av dejtingprogram kan påverka deras attityder kring sexuellt beteende. Denna studie visar att de båda programmens konstruktioner, gällande kärlek och könsroller, har stora likheter. I dejtingprogrammens genomsyrande kärleksideal betonas bland annat vikten av intimitet. Detta ideal kan förstås utifrån Anthony Giddens begrepp det rena förhållandet. Studien visar även att könrollskonstruktionerna i programmen präglas av en slitning. Till stor del går könsrollerna i linje med dejtingprogrammens kärlekskonstruktioner, då könsrollerna utmärks av en jämlikhetssträvan och vikten av ömsesidigt engagemang i dejtingen. Samtidigt innehåller könsrollkonstruktionerna bland annat kvinnors kritik mot passiva män, vilket kan förstås som ett uttryck för mer traditionella könsroller.

This thesis examines the expression of anger and aggression in interactions of 6 black and 4 white female siblings on family sitcoms from the 1980s, 1990s and the 2010s. The interactions were examined to determine whether black girls on TV sitcoms were depicted as more conflictual than their white counterparts, whether the content of the portrayals of black girls differed from white girls based on racialized gender stereotypes related to female anger and aggression, whether these depictions changed over three eras of television ranging from the 1980s-2010s, and finally, whether birth order and relationship to the girl (family vs. non family) determined whether relationship context influenced conflict. The findings revealed that by race and across time black girls are less conflictual than their white counterparts. This contradicts the acceptance of solely black girls as representations of the violent and aggressive “bad girl.” / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

An accurate television viewing choice model is an important tool for television industry executives, as well as advertisers. An efficient model can help television channels maximize ratings by improving both scheduling and the characteristics of their shows. On the other hand advertisers can predict ratings and demographic composition of audiences with better accuracy. Though there is considerable evidence to suggest that individual viewing choices are strongly affected by one's family members, quantitative models in marketing literature typically focus on the individual as the unit of analysis without incorporating the influence of family members. / Key Words: viewing choice modeling, television rating, group decision making / This thesis proposes a three-stage model to capture the process of household television viewing behavior. We divide the household viewing process into three sequential and interrelated decision stages (pre-decision, joint decision, and final-decision) according to the group decision making framework suggested in prior research. By defining utilities of different programme types on different channels, and weighting parameters of each family member, each family member's three decisions (pre-decision, joint decision and post-decision) are modeled as a function of these parameters with three sub-models. The model was estimated with maximum likelihood estimation, duly validated with simulation studies. Meanwhile, the model was extended to be time-dependent to allow past viewing history to influence current viewing choice, and applied on the people meter data for primetime telecasts on weekdays for the whole of 2006. The results indicate that our model has better prediction accuracy compared with models being currently used (Rust and Alpert 1984; Yang et al. 2010). Furthermore, we are able to demonstrate that models that ignore the influence of family members yield biased estimates. Our model also has better prediction accuracy compared with the traditional model proposed by Rust and Alpert (1984), and has more flexibility to fit households with different compositions. Finally, we find that there exist different household decision structures, initial latent preferences, and influences of past viewing history across different families and their members, and the heterogeneity can be explained by demographic variables. / Su, Lei. / "December 2010." / Advisers: Jessica Yuk-yee Kwong; Kin-nam Lau; Jian-min Jia. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-04, Section: A, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 126-133). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest dissertations and theses, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2010. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 76-78). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Central Florida, 2009. / Adviser: Tim Brown. Includes bibliographical references (p. 75-79).